Today was very busy in the hardware store. I am usually busy on Wednesdays because we are short-staffed on that day. Today was worse than usual because two of the people who normally work on Wednesday, were at some seminar. I don't like feeling harried. It seems everywhere I turn, the news is reporting another financial crisis. The latest thing I am supposed to be worried about is that Christmas gifts will cost more this year than they did last year. Wanna bet? Retailers, unlike consumers, understand how supply and demand work. Stuff only costs more when there are willing buyers. When there are not enough buyers, prices drop. Retailers cannot just leave piles of stuff sitting around the store because no one is buying. That's why they call a sale a sale. Except for food, shelter, clothing, transportation, medical care and utilities, we can opt not to buy. No one ever died because they didn't get a new cell phone for Christmas. Things in this blog represented to be fact, may or may not actually be true. The writer is frequently wrong, sometimes just full of it, but always judgmental and cranky